A dear friend told me a few years ago that I seemed swirly happy.  It was less than a year after Mr. F and I had married and started traveling.  My world had completely changed and though I was still getting used to the changes, my giddiness at my new life must have been pretty obvious.

Mr. F still makes me swirly, as does our crazy adventure filled life.  But over the last few years , we’ve encountered a few storms that have left us whirling instead of swirling.

Back in those early days, we were working to pay off debt, but otherwise pretty carefree and swirly.  Then Mr. F thought he might go back to school– whirl.  We thought staying in Seattle would be for us, but it turned out it wasn’t– whirl.  I started picking up freelance work– whirl ( and swirl, but somedays more whirl than swirl 😉 ).  We began seriously saving for a home– whirl.  The Mr.’s stepmom got sick, our best friends’ sister/sister-in-law was diagnosed with cancer and their son diagnosed with a form of muscular dystrophy, my mom began her own fight with cancer and is losing– whirl whirl whirl whirl.

These days it often seems the whirls outnumber the swirls.  It’s easy to get swept up in the tornado of stress and worry that plagues each day.  But then we go for a walk under a gentle breeze and a bright blue sky and the swirls return.

The paintings featured above are by Providence artist Rosalind Breen.  To see more of her work, please visit her website.

All images are via the artist’s website.